The Sacrifice Play
by Bree Colbern
Summary: Tony has to decide who to rescue on a mission gone wrong, but Steve makes him rescue the others, saying, "I'll be fine." Even though he knows it's a lie...


**Okay, so I've been debating all day on whether or not to post this, but I finally decided to. Oh, and just to be clear, I have absolutely nothing against Brucie, it just seemed to fit. So, please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own anything. _Yet._**

* * *

Steve panted as he darted from tree to tree in some frozen and rocky forest in the mountains of Colorado. Right now the Avengers were currently fighting some egotistical maniac that had escaped prison and was terrorizing different cities in the U.S.

He had a vendetta against the Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D suspected that he works for Hydra. Their mission was to find the guy and capture him, easy right?

 _Wrong._

This guy was elusive. He could get out of almost any situation with absolutely no trace. He paused behind the tree a moment to catch his breath and watched as the breaths came in as tiny puffs of air.

Right now he was a lot higher than any other Avenger, because his enhanced lungs were the only ones that could handle this kind of air and his also enhanced body was the only one who could handle this terrain.

He tapped into the comms and scanned the area to see if he could find any sign of something or anything.

"Report?" He spoke into the comms, glancing around one more time, before heading up to a rocky ledge on the side of the mountain where he was able to take some refugee from the frigid winds.

"Nothing, Cap," Came Tony's voice through the comms, "Wait!" He said, catching Steve's attention. He heard Tony swear once before continuing. "Guys, I'm detecting bombs! Two of them! There's one near you, Cap, and another by Clint and Natasha!"

"On it." He declared before Tony could even finish his sentence. He jumped off the ledge and landed with a roll started with his knee. "Location?"

"It's by an old warehouse right near you; it's hidden by some boulders. The warehouse contains valuable stuff, we can't afford it going off." Steve took off in a dead run towards several boulders, hearing the crunch of the snow the whole way.

When he arrived at the rocks, he was pleasantly surprised to find and old wooden shack, which he suspected was the warehouse.

He climbed over and around the ten feet high rocks, and noticed that the door to the building was locked. He carefully and quickly examined it, and since it was wooden, he figured he could probably kick it down.

He took a couple of steps back and took a deep breath, before kicking the door with all of his strength, and was pleased to feel the shatter of wood beneath his foot. He carefully pried away some of the wood that was still stuck in the doorway, and cautiously walked in; taking in all of his surroundings.

He noticed a lot of weapons and papers strewn out on the desks, and he could faintly hear a soft ticking. He walked over to the desk and bent down to look under it.

 _Bingo._

There was the bomb, in what almost looked like a black briefcase. He examined it for a moment, before cautiously reaching out and grabbing it. He gently pulled it out, checking to make sure it wasn't set to go off with movement.

He saw that the bomb had fifteen minutes before it went off, and then spent the next five minutes trying to figure out how to disarm it. He ignored the way his hands trembled slightly from the cold and focused on disarming the bomb.

Suddenly, a voice through the comms broke through his thoughts and attempts of disarming it.

"Shit! Guys, I got Carlisle," The guy they had been trying to capture, "But the bombs, they can only be de-activated by Carlisle! It's a scanner, and it only accepts his retinal scan!" Realization flowed through Steve and he swallowed past the lump of newly risen dread in his throat. "I'll bring him to you guys and he can disable-"

"No, Tony." Steve said firmly, interrupting the billionaire.

"What do you mean?"

"There isn't enough time;" He sighed, trying to get it to click with Tony, "You can only bring him to one of us." He said, and he could practically feel the sudden realization on the other end of the comms.

"Oh..." Was all Tony managed to get out.

"Just go and bring that guy to Clint and Natasha and get that bomb de-activated before it goes off. You don't have much time." He said, looking at his own bomb one more time to see if he could find any way to stop it from going off.

"But Cap, I can bring him to both of you, ya' know, my suit is fast! I designed it myself, so that means it's fast enough to rescue both of you guys!" he said, trying to cover up the fear in his voice by false bravado. Steve sighed and shook his head while grabbing his Shield.

"No, sometimes," He paused and sighed, "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony. Bring him to Clint and Natasha. Now." He commanded.

"But, Steve-"

"And that's an order." he snapped, stopping Tony from speaking anymore. He put the bomb in the cabinet drawer, noticing he had little less than three minutes left.

"Yes, sir," Tony said hesitantly, a layer of some weird emotion evident in his voice. "I'm sorry, Steve-"

"I'll be fine." Steve stated, even though he knew it was a lie. There was no way he would make it out of this unscathed, probably even alive.

"Steve-" Tony tried to interrupt.

" _I'll be fine_." He declared through clenched teeth.

"Yes, sir," Tony said again, before silence filled the void. Steve took a deep breath before crouching down in the corner, pushing a metal cabinet in front of him and putting up his Shield. He gritted his teeth, said a prayer, and started counting down the seconds to his death. The steady beeping quickened it's pace, and he curled himself into a ball, protected by his Shield. Ten seconds remained and he took a deep breath, before whispering his last words.

" _Goodbye..._ "

* * *

Tony blew another top off of an evergreen tree that blocked his path, and noticed a flash of black sprinting across the white plain. He took off in that direction and did a scan, and saw that it indeed was a person, and the person they had been looking for.

Carlisle obviously heard him coming, because he tried to dart off into some brush for cover, but Tony landed with a thud right next to him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't even think about it," Tony warned, his right hand whirring and lighting up with the glow of a repulser. The guy gulped and nodded once, before a smirk played at the guy's lips. An uneasy feeling came over Tony, and he shook the guy. "What's so funny?" He asked, anger seeping through his words. The guy just laughed maliciously, and Tony tightened his grip on the guy's collar.

"You are a fool, Iron Man." Carlisle said, voice heavy with a German accent. "Here you are with me, while your friends are heading for a sudden, yet very painful, death." Tony brought him closer to him.

"What are you talking about?" He growled, but Carlisle was unfazed. Instead, he just chuckled evilly.

"The bombs, they can only be de-activated by my retinal scan." He said with a smirk, and Tony's heart lurched.

"What?" He asked, voice low with hatred and anger.

"Your friends are doomed, and there's nothing you can do about it." He threw a punch that connected with Carlisle's jaw, and he fell down to the ground with a loud thud, hard enough to knock the wind out of him, but not hard enough to knock him unconscious. Not even near as hard as Tony had wanted. He placed his metal foot into his chest.

"We'll see about that you bastard." Tony said before tapping into the comms. Just as he was going to speak, Carlisle interrupted.

"Nine minutes..." He said with a bloody grin. Realization washed over Tony, and this time he reacted.

"Shit! Guys, I got Carlisle, but the bombs, they can only be de-activated by Carlisle! It's a scanner, and it only accepts his retinal scan! I'll bring him to you guys and he can disable-" Tony was saying, but got interrupted again, only this time it was from Steve.

"No, Tony." Steve said firmly, leaving Tony puzzled.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"There isn't enough time;" He could hear Steve sigh. "You can only bring him to one of us." He said, and suddenly more realization washed over him this time, leaving a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh..." Was all Tony managed to get out.

"Just go and bring that guy to Clint and Natasha and get that bomb de-activated before it goes off. You don't have much time." Steve said, and a false anger took root in his heart.

"But Cap, I can bring him to both of you, ya' know, my suit is fast! I designed it myself, so that means it's fast enough to rescue both of you guys!" He said, covering everything up with a fake confidence. Steve sighed.

"No, sometimes," He paused and sighed, "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Tony internally cursed at how Steve had been right. "Bring him to Clint and Natasha. Now." He commanded.

"But, Steve-" He started saying.

"And that's an order." He snapped, stopping Tony from speaking anymore.

"Yes, sir," Tony said hesitantly, guilt, fear, and horror from every little realization he kept having, filled his voice. "I'm sorry, Steve-"

"I'll be fine." Steve stated, yet they both knew how big of a lie that was. There would be no way he could survive.

"Steve-" Tony tried to interrupt.

" _I'll be fine_." He declared through clenched teeth. Tony sighed.

"Yes, sir," Tony said again, before silence filled the void. He grabbed Carlisle and flew off into the direction of Clint and Natasha, swallowing down the lodge of emotion in his throat. After about thirty seconds of flying, he landed right outside of the building that Clint and Natasha were in. He yanked open the door and ran in, dragging Carlisle right behind him. Natasha looked up and blew out a breath of a relief as she leaned against the wall.

"Oh, thank God. We can't disable it." She said, and Tony nodded while bringing Carlisle to the bomb.

"I know. Now do it." He demanded as he flipped his faceplate up, anger replacing the feeling of dread in him. Carlisle looked at the clock and realized there was only a minute and a half left, so he quickly did the scan and stopped the ticking.

"Did you get Steve's bomb de-activated?" Clint asked, and Tony's jaw clenched. He had hoped they hadn't noticed, but then again he was dealing with two master assassins, so of course they noticed.

"What happ-" Tasha started asking, but was cut off by Tony flying out of the building and taking off into the air. He knew he had little to no time to get to Steve, but he had to try. No more than thirty seconds passed, when a voice came through the comms and said, " _Goodbye..._ ". Fear took root in Tony as he realized who had said that. Steve would never make it out if he truly believed there was no way- he was interrupted by an incredibly loud thunder that erupted through the comms and across the mountains.

"No, no, no..." Tony was taken aback for a moment before adrenaline kicked in and he took off like a shot towards the location of the explosion across the mountain. He came over the edge of the mountain and saw the remains of what used to be an old warehouse, and also saw the fire burning up surrounding trees and such, but it couldn't get far because of the snow.

He flew down to the blackened snow to find several smoldering pieces of wood, surrounded by rocks and boulders, but his heart sunk when he saw a familiar red, white and blue Shield lying near the rocks. He ran over and bent down to pick it up, but not before looking all around that area to make sure Cap wasn't there. He picked it up and brushed off some of the dirt and ashes of it.

 _It was still intact..._

With another burst of adrenaline, he stuck it under his arm and did a scan for any body heat, but cursed when J.A.R.V.I.S told him his suit was malfunctioning with that option because of all the heat from the explosion. About thirty minutes of looking for Steve had passed by the time Clint and Natasha had shown up in a helicopter with about ten other S.H.I.E.L.D Agents, including Bruce. Bruce, Clint and Natasha were practically out of the helicopter and running towards Tony before it had even landed. He turned and flipped his faceplate up as they came up to him.

"I came as soon as I heard," Bruce said while panting from having to hurry the whole time. "Find anything yet?" Tony held out the Shield, and all three of them gasped slightly.

"This is it. There's absolutely no sign of him whatsoever." Tony said in exasperation.

"Carlisle was taken into S.H.I.E.L.D custody and he's going to go into interrogation any minute." Natasha informed him. She would have loved to have been the one interrogating him, but wanted to look for Steve more instead.

"Good." Was all Tony said, and with that, they parted ways and headed towards different areas of the forest to look for Steve. The part that bothered Tony was that the explosion had been big enough to blow some of the rubble a couple of miles away. And this whole situation ended up making Tony do something he hadn't done in a long time, he prayed.

* * *

Tony let out a sound of anger while throwing a still smoldering piece of wood threw the air until it connected with the ground in a satisfying thud.

It had been three hours.

Three _miserable_ hours of searching for Steve, and they hadn't found anything other than that stupid Shield that was supposed to protect the guy. The sun had set and the moon was rising, along with a snowstorm. He could feel the wind picking up and the chill in the air had picked up, leaving Tony with an even more sickening feeling. If Steve was alive, Tony knew he wouldn't last much longer; especially with the storm. A voice through the comms interrupted his thoughts.

"Guys, I don't want to say this, but I think we need to go. these mountains are no place to be in this cold and especially at night. We need to leave." Bruce said, and an indescribable amount of anger, no, _fury_ , came over him and filled every little crevice in him.

"What!?" Tony asked, he couldn't believe what his so-called friend was saying. They were just supposed to leave their Leader? Their _friend_? "What the hell are you talking about, Bruce?" He heard a sigh come from the other end of the line.

"Tony, I don't want to do this either, but you know that Steve would want us to do this. It's for the best. We can keep looking tomorr-" Tony scoffed.

"I don't give a crap about what Steve, you, or anybody else in this freakin' world cares about. Heck, I don't even care if the president himself came up here and told me to stop, _I am going to look for Steve_." He said emphatically, disgust and anger layering certain words.

"I agree with Tony." Natasha declared through the comms.

"Me too. Steve never left us, and we're not leaving him." Clint stated and Tony smirked. "If you want to leave, go ahead, but we're staying." Clint said, and Bruce sighed.

"I'm not leaving, I'll stay, I just don't want anybody else getting injured when it could have been stopped." Bruce said before everything went silent again.

* * *

Another hour went by, and Tony was starting to get desperate. Steve would be fine. He'd live and be all right, and soon they'd be back at the Tower laughing and Tony would be calling him old and perfect, and Steve would just laugh it off; making him even more perfect in the process.

Man, he missed that so much right now.

"God, Steve, where are you?" He asked with a sigh. He kicked a small rock, causing a light metal sound from it bouncing off of his boot, and wasn't expecting it to make another metal sound in response. His head jerked up at the noise, and he spied a rather large filing cabinet.

A burst of, what could be called hope, lurched in him and he ran over there; thinking that since they hadn't found this, maybe Steve could still be all right. He cautiously moved around the cabinet, and his heart somehow managed to deflate and sail at the same time.

The cabinet was tipped slightly on it's side, and was sort of surrounded by rocks, but that wasn't the part that made his heart leap into his throat. It was the read, white and blue arm that was sticking out from under the rocks and cabinet.

The material on the arm was slightly burned and the skin underneath it was blackened in different parts. Tony slowly and shakily bent down and noticed some of the blood on the arm. He took a shuddering deep breath, to prepare himself for what he was about to see, before starting to shove off the cabinet and rocks.

He managed to get the cabinet off with slight struggle, and the removal of it revealed two bruised and bloodied legs. Tony raised a shaking gauntlet and shoved off the few remaining pieces of rocks and froze at the sight.

Steve laid out before him, uniform singed and burned in several different places, right arm bent in at awkward angle, blood covering half of his whole body, and some other blood trickling down his forehead from a gash in his hairline.

His usually perfect, pristine and blonde hair was now full of ashes, dirt and dried blood. Tony shakily took off his gauntlet and raised his hand slowly, until it connected with the charred flesh on Steve's neck.

He held it there for a few seconds and felt nothing. Sorrow washed over him, until all of a sudden, he felt a faint flutter and hope surged through him.

Not being too sure that this wasn't just a false hope, he pressed his fingers a little harder against his neck, and sure as day, there was the uneven thump of a heart beat.

Relief and joy flooded through him and he smiled so big he thought his face might crack. He let out a small, joyful laugh and thanked God aloud that Steve was alive. Granted he was super serious condition, but he was alive! Tony quickly tapped into the comms and started speaking.

"Guys! I found him!" he declared as he started examining Steve a little closer.

"Is he..." Clint's voice trailed off and Tony smiled even more and shook his head.

"No, he's alive! He's actually alive!" he said and a sound of joy escaped his throat.

"What's his condition?" Natasha asked firmly, showing no sign of any emotion whatsoever in her voice. Tony sighed, his relief momentarily replaced by a feeling of fear.

"It's not the greatest, but he's alive." He said with a small smile. Steve would make it. He was sure of it. In just a couple of weeks they'd all be back at the tower, laughing and joking and just having fun.

Tony would never let Steve go out on another mission for the rest of his life after this. Tony gently picked up Steve's limp body in his metal arms and smiled. "I'll bring him to you guys."

* * *

Steve groaned from the throbbing pain that covered his whole body. He struggled to leave the darkness that filled him, but moaned as soon as he started waking up. The pain was coming on a hundred times stronger now than before and he'd give anything to just fall back asleep.

He heard voices around him saying different things that he could only catch a few short words of, but he also heard a faint beeping sound that was getting louder and faster by the second.

"Shh, shh, he's waking up," A calm and quiet voice said, cutting off the other couple of people's voices. He knew that voice, and it was at the tip of his tongue, but it wouldn't go any farther.

"It's about time," A voice muttered, and then he heard the faint sound of a slap, and an, "Ow," come from somewhere around him.

 _Natasha._

That's who the voice belonged to.

The beeping picked up immensely, and before he knew it, his eyes were fluttering open and his eyes met with the four people gazes in the room. He blinked a few times, and was extremely thankful that the lights were off above him and dimmed in the corner.

Clint, Natasha, Tony and Bruce moved closer to the side of the bed until they were standing right next to Steve.

"Hey, how ya' feeling?" Natasha asked, her tone being unusually caring and worried.

"Fine," He choked out, his voice raspy. The wince on his face and the coughing fit that followed that statement claimed otherwise. He vaguely noticed black soot covering his hands and the bed sheet.

Bruce grabbed a glass of water with a straw, and held it so Steve could drink. Steve went to take the glass from him, but Bruce stopped him.

"No, don't. I'll just hold it." He said with a small smile, and Steve nodded once in reply, before taking slow sips of the cold water.

He almost sighed in relief at the feel of the ice cold water flowing down his throat; ridding it of the painful harshness that had settled there after the coughing. He gently laid back down and looked up at the ceiling.

"What happened?" He asked a little slower and quieter this time, and Tony sighed as he sat down in the chair next to Steve's bed. He looked over at him, hoping for some sort of explanation that would help him understand what he was doing here.

"Bomb. Explosion. Final words. Ring a bell?" Tony asked with a sigh, and remembrance weaved it's way into Steve.

"Yeah..." He said, recalling what he had thought were going to be his last moments.

"Yeah. And just to be clear, you are never, ever doing that again, understand?" Tony asked, his cold glare connecting with Steve's gaze, but there was no heat behind it, instead there was just some weird emotion. The same that had been in his voice through the comms.

"Tony, I-"

"Can you guys give us a minute?" Tony asked, looking up at the others who silently nodded. Tony waited anxiously for them to exit, tapping his foot impatiently, and as soon as the door shut, Tony began his ramble. It took every thing in Steve to try and keep up with the man who was speaking a mile a minute.

"You are never going on another mission in your life, Steve. And I'm not kidding. In fact, I'm dead serious."

"Do you have any idea how awful it is to hear one of your teammates whisper their final words? How awful it is to go hours searching for something you aren't even sure is there? Or how awful it is to know something tragic is going to happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do?"

"Or even, how awful it is to find that person's beat up and burned body practically lifeless in the snow under some rubble? Because that is what you did to me, Steve. And I will never ever forget that." Tony said, voice choking up and words breaking up on different syllables.

There was no real anger towards Steve in those words, more fear, dread and guilt in them instead. But his hands waved in the air to emphasize his point anyway.

"You've been asleep for the past twelve days, you flat lined two times, the first one for four minutes and twenty eight seconds. The second time for seven minutes and thirty three seconds."

"Then the doctors weren't sure if you would make it out just from the blood loss, and then add all your others injuries and your burned skin, which by the way, you had a broken arm and ankle which have healed by now. Steve, you scared the heck out of all of us! SO don't do something like this again, understand?" Tony said, and Steve remained still, except for swallowing hard.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, and all of Tony's false anger and disgust, fell to nothing as he looked at the young kid in front of him. The wall Tony had built around himself after this event, crumbled down to nothing as he saw the young, innocent and almost child-like look in Steve's eyes.

The words that were once on the tip of Tony's tongue that had spilled out like a volcano erupting with all of it's heated lava, died in his throat as he noticed the tears welling Steve's eyes. Steve abruptly closed his eyes, and wiped away a few of the tears.

"I'm sorry." He said again, voice sounding strong, but wavering nonetheless. Tony had never seen him like this, and it, _bothered_ him.

After a few moments of awkward silence and Tony debating what to do, Steve broke it. "I know what it's like. I know exactly what that's like." Steve said, never looking up. Even more realization dawned on Tony.

"Oh," It was a pathetic thing to say, but it was all he could manage to get out. Of course, Steve knew what that was like; he was in the war. He had probably experienced everyone of those things. Steve immediately blinked several times to get rid of the tears and sat up a little straighter.

"Thanks, Tony." He said with one of those genuine smiles directed towards Tony. And he wondered just what he did exactly to deserve one of those.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you, for listening to me, too, with the bomb. " Steve said, and Tony being super uncomfortable all of a sudden, stood up and wiped his hands off on his pants.

"Yeah, whatever, listen I-uh, I'll bring the others in." He said with a quick smile before quickly went over to the door to go out and get them.

But he could have sworn he'd heard Steve laugh on the way out and also heard him say the words, "Yeah, Tony, you do that." Tony hid a smile to himself as he ushered the others in; things were finally getting back to normal.

* * *

Steve awoke from a deep sleep with an involuntarily groan of pain. The lights in his hospital room were off except for a lamp in the corner. And he squinted his eyes so he could see a little better, and smiled once he did.

There was Clint, Natasha and Bruce sharing the couch, Thor in the cushioned chair beside the couch, and Tony in the cushioned chair next to Steve's bed, all asleep.

Steve smiled at the sight before him because he knew they had to have brought that furniture in here themselves. He took one last look at his teammates and closed his eyes to sleep.

He was realizing, maybe they weren't just teammates anymore, they were becoming a family. A dysfunctional one, but also a caring one. He certainly wasn't planning on leaving them anytime soon.

* * *

 **I hope that wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Remember, I love getting reviews!**


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